Rentals should be at centre of housing solutions, federal advocate urges

If Canada is to build its way out of a housing crisis, the focus needs to be on building purpose-built rental homes, the federal housing advocate is urging on the heels of a new report.

Speaking in an interview with Global News, Marie-Josée Houle said non-market rental housing needs to be at least 20 per cent of Canada’s total housing supply to make sure the most marginalized groups don’t fall through the cracks.

“Non-market housing represents only three to four per cent of the total purpose-built rentals in Canada,” Houle said, before citing the findings of a report commissioned by the office and released on Thursday. “Canada needs to double that number.”

The report released on Thursday was commissioned by the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate. The report said Canada’s estimates for the number of people in need of housing are off by millions because they don’t reflect the full need for purpose-built rentals and the needs of vulnerable Canadians for affordable units.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says 1.4 million households in Canada don’t have access to quality housing.

In contrast, the independent advocate’s report, titled “A human rights-based calculation of Canada’s housing supply shortage,” estimates that Canada is short 4.4 million homes that are affordable to people in housing need.

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The housing advocate’s report, produced by housing policy expert Carolyn Whitzman, projects a deficit of three million homes for low- and very low-income households in housing need that can only afford less than $1,050 per month, and a further 1.4 million missing homes for moderate- and median-income households in housing need.

Houle told Global News that housing policy in Canada needs to have a human-rights-based approach. As part of that approach, her office’s report looked at groups that she said the CMHC did not consider.

These groups, she said, are people in precarious housing and those who don’t have tenancy rights.

“We’re looking at students, we’re looking at seniors, people in long-term care facilities, because they are still paying rents. We’re looking at people who are considered to be the ‘hidden homeless people’ living in overcrowded situations or who are forced into sharing housing with people that they don’t necessarily want to,” she said.

Houle said while the federal government’s recent decision to waive the GST on construction of new rental apartments could encourage more development, it needs to come with some strings attached.

“Waiving the GST is giving an incentive to create something. Is there any guarantee of affordability in the end or affordability over the long term?” Houle asked.

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The federal housing watchdog’s report says CMHC’s method of estimating housing need takes into account housing demand, but not necessarily housing need.

“It conflates demand for home ownership, which may be for speculative or investment purposes, with housing need. And perhaps most tellingly, it ignores the intent of both the National Housing Strategy and the National Housing Strategy Act, which is to focus on the housing needs of those who are most marginalized,” the report states.

The CMHC projects that Canada will need to build an additional 3.45 million homes, over and above the base level of 2.2 million homes, by 2030.

The housing advocate’s report said 9.6 million homes will have to be built over the next 10 years, with a third of this supply dedicated to very low- to moderate-income households.